Paul Lawrie To Hit Opening Tee Shot At 150th Open

Paul Lawrie has been given the honour of getting the historic 150th Open underway on Thursday morning at the Old Course of St Andrews.

The tee times for the opening two rounds have yet to be released but the R&A confirmed the news that the Scotsman would kickstart the game's oldest championship after teeing off in Monday's Celebration of Champions.

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Lawrie, the 1999 Champion Golfer of the Year who also hit the opening tee shot in 2010, stepped away from the main tour in 2020 and admitted he would be nervous come Thursday morning.

"I’m always nervous on the first tee, no matter what tournament I play I’m always nervous there," said Lawrie. "But this is more because it’s the Open and the 150th, and fortunately it’s a nice, big fairway.

"Mind you I could miss any fairway however wide it is. I just chipped it down in 2010. The stand on the right looks a little closer. It’s a bit tighter, it’s not tight, but a little bit. I think we’ll pop it down there somewhere.

"It’s always nice to hit the opening shot. It’s a nice thing to be asked to do and hopefully it’ll be flat calm. It’s obviously a huge occasion, a huge week, a big milestone so the more you think about it, yeah it is a big thing to do it in the 150th."

The 53-year-old returned to winning ways last month on the Legends Tour at Trevose Golf Club and hopes the firm links turf might help him this week, while adding he would have no issues sleeping in.

"I’m 53 so I’m wide awake at 4.30 going for a pee," he said. "Shouldn’t be a problem, middle of the night. I’ll be ready for 5am. It’s a pretty good draw, actually, greens will be pure, a great draw for me.

"If it was the main tour I’d be struggling. But because it’s links and the ground’s really hard…I hit it on the last there, which is not my normal shot down there

"It’ll play shorter and hopefully we can bumble round somehow. Harder and faster the better, it’s proper links out there."